


Teamwork

by The_Sickfic_Sideblog



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Chills, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nausea, Sickfic, Vomiting, headache
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-21 20:43:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9565529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Sickfic_Sideblog/pseuds/The_Sickfic_Sideblog
Summary: Shiro gets infected by an alien virus. Shiro is stubborn. Shiro doesn't tell anyone until it's too late.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Voltron piece! The medical jargon Pidge spits out isn't accurate at all, since I'm not well-versed in medical technicalities.

It took a while for the other members of the Voltron team to notice anything was wrong with Shiro. He stood tall, gave reasonable orders, and acted just as he always did. It was only when the team formed Voltron that they could feel that something was wrong.

* * *

A week earlier, they liberated yet another planet from the Galran control. While the others were distracting the Galran onslaught, the Black Lion touched down on the planet and Shiro was getting the rest of the prisoners out of the base.

“Come on, let’s move! We don’t have much time!” he shouted, counting each prisoner as they boarded the lion. The last one paused for a moment and took Shiro’s non-metal hand.

“We are forever in your debt-”

Shiro pulled back his hand, “Thank you, but now’s not the time!” He ushered the alien into the last open spot aboard the Lion and took the pilot seat to himself. His Lion hummed to life and took off from the planet.

“Team, I got the rest of the prisoners. Fall back, we can-”

A loud static buzz sounded in his ear, “Shi-o? Y-....breaking u-...”

Shiro frowned. That was the fifth time his helmet coms had got out. He would have to get Pidge to take a better look at it. For now, he slid his hand up between his cheek and the helmet and attempted to fiddle with it. That usually worked long enough to get back to the castleship.

When Shiro pulled his hand away, something sickeningly wet lingered on his face. He looked down at his hand. A strange blue fluid coated his glove, reminiscent of the prisoner that tried to shake his hand. He cringed, and tried to get the ooze off as best he could. Some remained, but so long as the majority was off, it could wait. His coms returned.

“Fall back, the planet is a goner! I have the rest of the prisoners, let’s warp out of here!”

The team returned mostly undamaged, save for a few dents and scratches on the Yellow Lion. With the prisoners recovering and the castleship as far away from the Galra-infested planet as possible, Shiro retired to his chambers. A hot shower wiped the blue substance away, along with all memories that he was ever touched by the stuff.

The next day, Shiro slept late. Everybody did - Allura allowed them to after the exhausting fight against such an overwhelming enemy. But Shiro slept the latest. Pidge was the one to eventually wake him up, inquiring about his helmet coms being down again. Every muscle in his body ached as he rose from the bed, even his Galra-tech arm seemed to resist his movements.

“I’ll be there in a minute, Pidge. Go start without me.”

She nodded and went to her workshop. Shiro took a breath and pulled himself from the bed. As he stood, the room swirled before him doubling all the furniture. He immediately sat back down and closed his eyes.

_Must’ve gotten up too fast..._ he thought. A few moments passed, and Shiro stood again, this time much more slowly. Still, the room spun as he stumbled his way to the bathroom. He gripped the sink and dared to look at his face in the mirror. He was a worrying shade of pale, and dark bags hung under his eyes. With a few splashes of water, his head cleared up a bit.

“I’m a member of Voltron...” he said to himself, drying his face with a towel, “Whatever this is, I can handle it.”

* * *

_I can’t handle this...._ Shiro thought. The interface of the Black Lion danced before him. His hands shook on the controls. His stomach rolled with every twist and turn of Voltron. Voices of his teammates blared in his ears for orders, but he couldn’t pick out the words. For the first time, he was annoyed that Pidge was able to fix something so well.

His symptoms had only gotten worse since the day he woke up light headed. His appetite disappeared and was replaced with a headache that wouldn’t go away, no matter how many Altean painkillers he took. Still, he forced down the food goo to save face, only to throw it back up when he went to bed each night. And now, in the middle of a practice run, things seemed to be coming to a head.

He blurted out the words, hoping his teammates would shut up, “Practice is over. Get back to the castle.”

Lance’s voice stood out among the rest, “But I was just getting warmed up! I felt good about this run!”

_“Now, Lance!”_

The shout took the last bit of his energy. Darkness picked at the corner of his vision as he ungracefully pressed the autopilot button on his lion. Before he could sit back in the chair, his vision swirled again, and Shiro fell forward onto the dash, unconscious.

Voices drifted in and out of the darkness in Shiro’s mind. He tried to cling on to them, but they kept slipping away. Time between them was hard to measure

“What do you mean the pods won’t work-”

“-to figure out what’s wrong with him!”

“Everybody else, out!”

Time passed. Shiro had no measure of how long it was. When he could finally muster the strength to open his eyes, he saw the ceiling of his chambers spiraling around him. A deep tremble ran through his spine, rattling his whole body with shivers. He closed his eyes again, and someone sitting next to him on the bed turned to attention.

“Shiro? Are you awake?”

It was Pidge. Her voice was low and quiet, not the usual curious and excited. It would’ve worried Shiro if he could focus on anything. He didn’t want to hear or talk to anyone, but considering his options, Pidge was the best voice he could’ve heard. Without opening his eyes, he nodded slightly. Something cool pressed against his forehead, giving relief he didn’t know he needed. It beeped softly, and the coolness was gone.

“104. Keith, get a washcloth or something, we gotta cool him down.”

_Cool me down..?_ Shiro thought, _But it’s already so cold...._

“Pidge...” he breathed, “What’s going on...?”

The Red Paladin answered instead, “You passed out in your Lion and Voltron almost crashed into the castle. You were in and out of consciousness for about an hour and kept muttering to yourself.” Shiro felt another icy sensation wash over his forehead. He was able to open his eyes once more and saw worried looks plastered over Pidge and Keith’s faces. No one else was in the room.

“Where is everyone...?”

“Keith pushed them out after they kept crowding you. We didn’t think you wanted to talk to Lance and Coran after just waking up,” Pidge smiled a slight bit, “And Hunk was a mess of tears, thinking you were already dead.”

Before Pidge could continue, Shiro felt the ominous crawling of something up from his stomach. He had forgotten about the nausea that haunted him.

The only warning the other paladins had was a choked out “Bathroom...” followed by a wet burp from the back of Shiro’s throat. Luckily, Keith was known for his quick reaction time. He slung Shiro’s arm over his shoulder and hoisted him from the bed as best he could. Pidge tried to be helpful, but Shiro was much taller than her and she could only nudge him along.

Keith plopped Shiro down in front of the toilet just in time for a violent stream of vomit to come up. He hadn’t eaten properly in days, so there wasn’t much to come up, but the bile on its own hurt more. It burned his throat and left bitterness on his tongue after every wave. Some even stung his nose, leaving his eyes watery.

In lulls between the retching, Shiro felt two hands placed upon his back, one small and warm, the other larger and more stabilizing. Pidge was muttering somewhat comforting words (hesitant “You’re alright”s and “It’s okay”s, though she had never been the nurturing type), but the silence and consistency from Keith were more relaxing. Shiro tried to focus on that as the last bit of bile shot out of his throat.

The Black Paladin sat back on his heels, not bothering to wipe the sick away from his mouth, “What’s happening...?” he asked weakly, voice torn from throwing up.

“Coran thinks you caught some sort of alien virus from the prisoners. We were able to identify it, and it doesn’t seem contagious to humans. It’s not deadly either, since it has more of an icosahedral shape, and the capsids are pretty weak. But since it’s a foreign body to your leukocytes, they’re pulling out everything they can to get rid of it. It should terminate within a week.” Pidge replied.

Shiro blinked, and slowly turned his head towards Keith, “English?”

“Alien virus you body doesn’t understand how to get rid of. So it’s doing everything. But it should be like chickenpox. Once you have it, you’ll never get it again. Should be done in a week.”

Shiro nodded. That made more sense. Keith hoisted him back up and guided him to bed. Pidge started taking down symptoms and prescribing what she could to manage each one. Keith immediately saw the exhaustion in his leader’s eyes and stopped her.

“Pidge, why don’t you go tell the others he’s okay? Hunk’s probably bathing in tears.”

It wasn’t the most convincing excuse, but Pidge understood. She left the boys alone. Keith sat on the edge of Shiro’s bed, not wanting to look directly at him.

“Why didn’t you tell us you weren’t feeling well?”

“It wasn’t this bad...”

“Shiro, we were lucky that this virus isn’t harmful to humans! You kept it a secret from us, and we almost crashed Voltron and destroyed the castle because of that!”

“Keith-”

“You always tell us that we’re a team, and we need to learn to trust each other and be there for each other! Why didn’t you tell us?!” The Red Paladin shot his gaze towards Shiro, who was focusing his energy on talking.

“...because until you work as a team, you need a strong leader...” his body tensed with another shiver, “I couldn’t let you guys see I was weak....especially while we’re so close to Zarkon...”

Keith’s expression fell. Guilt suddenly flooded him. He didn’t mean to yell, he was just worried. And even though Shiro was bedridden, his words cut deep. Keith lowered his eyes back to the floor.

“We are a team. We’ll show you. We’ll show you how good we can work together when you need our help.”

Ultimately, Keith kept his word, but not in the way Shiro expected. The team started taking shifts of keeping watch over him - changing a cold washcloth, giving and taking away blankets, helping him to the bathroom, anything he could need. Even when Keith and Lance had shifts together, they did all they could to avoid being at each other’s throats. And even when his migraines were the worst, and his stomach wouldn’t let up, Shiro found himself with a bit of a smile, knowing his team was there for him.


End file.
